[Haaretz] Tracking Terrorists and Smugglers Just Like the Bedouin Do

This article was originally published in Haaretz – October 5, 2015 [Photo by Tal Shofman-Schejter]

By Judy Maltz

SALAMEH, Upper Galilee – Ziad Sawaid, a Bedouin tracker, bends down and draws a circle in the earth with his stick. After a brief examination, he rules: “It’s not the footprint of a goat. Not a human footprint either. This one belongs to a wild boar.”

The Bedouin’s legendary skills at sighting and deciphering imprints on the ground, often indiscernible to the average eye, are put to use in the Israeli army, where many Bedouin volunteers dominate the ranks of trackers patrolling the borders. Passed down from generation to generation and honed through years in the outdoors, this sixth sense has helped foil many attempts by terrorists and smugglers to infiltrate into Israel over the years…